Acceptances/Awards

EWU McNair Scholar Malachi Chukwu Accepted to Washington State University PhD Program

02/23/2021 by Jaeger, Corinne Leave a Comment

Malachi Chukwu Graduate School Acceptances 2021 WSU

Congratulations to EWU McNair Scholar Malachi Chukwu! Malachi has been accepted by the Political Science PhD Program at Washington State University with full funding. Malachi Chukwu is an International Affairs and Political Science major at Eastern Washington University with an emphasis on global security. He is interested in researching the effects of development on Sub-Saharan Africa, the connections between development, environmental degradation, and conflict in this region, and potential policy and implementation solutions.

Malachi completed his 2019 summer research Economic development in the Global South: A case study of Niger Delta, Nigeria under the mentorship of Dr. Majid Sharifi. Malachi presented a poster of his research at the 2020 EWU online Symposium. In 2020, Malachi participated in the Laney Graduate School Summer Opportunity for Academic Research (LGS-SOAR) Program at Emory University under the mentorship of Dr. Emily Gade at the Oppressions and Resistance Lab. Alongside other students he numerically coded recently declassified data to understand activities between state actors and non-state actors during the Troubles in Northern Ireland from 1971-1973.

The EWU McNair staff are so excited for Malachi and we know he'll do amazing things at whichever program he decides to attend! Click here to read more about Malachi or his research.

EWU McNair Scholar Alexis Guizar-Diaz Completes Summer Research Internship

11/17/2020 by Jaeger, Corinne Leave a Comment

Congratulations to EWU McNair Scholar Alexis Guizar-Diaz for completing his 2020 EWU McNair Summer Research Internship! With the mentorship of Dr. Edwin Elias, Alexis researched the exponential increase of requested H-2A guestworkers in Washington State and how capital has structured labor conditions. He is currently researching why the rate of positive COVID-19 cases per capita was highest in Washington’s major agricultural counties, what is the relationship to the high number of cases and lack of protections for seasonal agricultural workers, and what is the viewpoint of seasonal workers on the situation. Many thanks to Dr. Elias for his ongoing mentorship for Alexis. Read more about Alexis's research on his EWU McNair webpage!

Alexis is not only conducting ongoing research, he is now hard at work applying to graduate schools and fellowships across the country. Keep up the amazing work Alexis! EWU McNair is confident that you will succeed in graduate school and have a great impact on our communities.

EWU McNair Scholar Lizeth Bañuelos Completes Summer Research Internship

11/04/2020 by Jaeger, Corinne Leave a Comment

Congratulations to EWU McNair Scholar Lizeth Bañuelos for completing her 2020 EWU McNair Summer Research Internship! Lizeth is researching roles of institutional and familial supports for first-generation Latinx college students during the COVID-19 pandemic under the mentorship of Dr. Aryn Ziehnert in the Department of Psychology. She is now conducting a survey as a continuation of that research during the school year. Many thanks to Dr. Ziehnert for her ongoing mentorship for Lizeth. Read more about Lizeth’s research on her EWU McNair webpage!

Lizeth is now hard at work applying to graduate schools and fellowships across the country. Keep up the amazing work Lizeth! EWU McNair is confident that you will succeed in graduate school and have a great impact on our communities.

EWU McNair Scholar Theresa Lee Completes Summer Research Internship

10/30/2020 by Tennyson, Bryn Leave a Comment

Congratulations to EWU McNair Scholar Theresa Lee for completing her second EWU McNair Summer Research Internship! Theresa continued her research on college student perceptions of the barriers of prison reentry under the mentorship of Dr. Lindsey Upton in the Department of Sociology and Justice Studies. Last year she led focus groups with college students and this summer she transcribed and analyzed the data from those focus groups. Theresa recently presented her research from Prisoner Reentry: College Perceptions of Reentry Barriers in a Northwest Community at the virtual Baylor McNair Research Conference. Last year she also presented this research at the American Society of Criminology (ASC). Many thanks to Dr. Upton for her outstanding mentorship. Read more about Theresa's research on her EWU McNair webpage!

Theresa recently completed her application for the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and is now hard at work applying to graduate schools and additional fellowships. Keep up the amazing work Theresa! EWU McNair is confident that you will succeed in graduate school and have a great impact on our communities.

EWU McNair Scholar Darlene Gilroy Awarded Research Grant

10/23/2020 by Tennyson, Bryn Leave a Comment

Congratulations EWU McNair Scholar Darlene Gilroy! Darlene has been awarded the Fall 2020 Alumni-Funded Undergraduate research grant! Darlene's EWU McNair research has focused on the chemical weathering of volcanic sediments under the mentorship of Dr. Carmen Nezat. This research grant will allow her to purchase supplies needed to continue her research. She presented on this project at the 2019 Murdock College Science Research Conference. To learn more about of Darlene's research, check out her poster presentation at the EWU Virtual Symposium! Darlene would like to focus future research in areas such as Anthropogenic Climate Change and Natural and Geologic Hazards through the lens of Geochemistry. Darlene is currently working hard on applications to graduate schools across the country in pursuit of her PhD.

We're so proud of Darlene and excited to see her hard work be recognized!

EWU McNair and Research Transform Students Lives!

10/01/2020 by Garcia, Christina Leave a Comment

Dear EWU & TRIO Community and Students,

I am sure you remember our EWU McNair scholar Marixza Torres, a Frances B Huston Medallion recipient, who was accepted into the University of California, Irvin's Ph.D. program in Human Development in Context (HDiC), fully funded! She also was accorded an Honorable Mention in the 2020 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program competition for her research proposal's intellectual merit and potential broader impacts. She is doing excellent at UCI beginning the first semester of her Ph.D. program and would like to share a few words on how EWU's TRIO McNair Program assisted in accomplishing her academic goals.

TRiO’s McNair has expanded my life opportunities and has given me the tools to enact change in my community. As a Mexican American and first-generation student, I began my academic journey feeling like I did not know enough about my community to make lasting change towards social justice. That quickly changed...When I found out about the McNair Scholars Program, I knew little about graduate school and felt as though my limited academic exposure did not compare to other scholars in my field of psychology.

During the McNair Program, Marixza worked on three research projects. First, she conducted research on Latinx families with autistic children, shedding light on the unique challenges that they face due to numerous barriers in health care services, including the limited language translation and limited culturally competent personnel. Guided by her mentor Dr. Christina Torres Garcia, she utilized three surveys including the Family Needs Survey, Caring for My Child Survey and the Bias and Cultural Competence Survey. This research assists in filling the gap in the literature regarding Latinx families with autistic children in the Pacific Northwest. During the academic year, Marixza worked with Dr. Theresa Martin analyzing the relationship between family communication in college and prosocial values exploring the influence of these on academic achievement. In 2019, through a Summer Research Opportunities Program at the University of Notre Dame, Marixza examined the relationship between adolescent adjustment, dimensions of parenting, and work orientation guided by Dr. Dawn M. Gondoli. Marixza described how the culmination of all these experiences transformed her life:

The program’s ability to empower marginalized students gave me the confidence to address my imposter syndrome and continue to build my skills to succeed. After developing research proposals and presenting my work to others, I saw how valuable my perspectives were to making significant contributions to the academic field in Latinx Psychology. With the support of TRiO’s McNair, I developed the expertise I needed to become a doctoral student at the University of California Irvine in the Department of Education and Human Development. This opportunity transformed my life and will allow me to address concerns impacting the Latinx community.

We are so proud of Marixza and all of our EWU McNair Scholars. Since Eastern’s TRIO McNair program was first funded in 1995, 39 EWU McNair Scholars have completed their PhD’s and over 117 have earned Master’s degrees. These amazing individuals are making history and valuable impacts on their communities including teaching future teachers, bringing to light hidden histories, improving health in rural areas, increasing equity and diversity in academia, strengthening mental health care for underserved communities, and supporting McNair programs at other institutions.

Faculty and staff, if you have students in your class who are interested to conduct research and attend graduate school, please send them to our website! Students, if you want to make a difference in your communities or learn more about the EWU McNair program, check out our website or check out this eligibility questionnaire!